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Orangutan Caring Week 2010 Activities

The following organizations are planning events for Orangutan Caring (Awareness) Week 2010. If you know of any events being planned that are not listed here, kindly inform us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we will post them. Download the low resolution or high resolution poster here.

Sunday, November 7: Peace Rally at the Medan central city round-about. The week started with peaceful demonstrations and inspiring speeches with education materials and trees distributed to the public.

Tuesday, November 9: Coloring Contest for children at Republic of Indonesia Television Station (TVRI) in Medan.

Saturday, November 13: Tree-planting activities in Gunung Leuser National Park. Fruit and forest trees were planted by volunteers and local people from Bukit Lawang.

For more information, contact CPOI-Sumut at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Location: Indonesia, Jakarta, Java

Organization: Orang Utan Republik Education Initiative Indonesia

Event Details: The Orang Utan Republik Education Initiative Indonesia will be celebrating Orangutan Caring Week and are in the process of planning events and activities. More details will be posted when available.

Location: Indonesia, Ketapang and Sukadana, West Kalimantan

Organization: Gunung Palung Orangutan Conservation Program

Dates: November 20-28, 2010

Event Details: While taking place slightly after the official Orangutan Caring Week, a series of awareness-raising rock concerts with local bands was held in Ketapang cafes on Nov. 20-21, followed by a music and theater performance on Nov. 23. On November 28, GPOCP youth volunteers dressed up as Orangutans and their forest friends, in our first animal parade through the streets of Sukadana. For more information contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..';document.getElementById('cloak1656844243ca3322e6f5ca0d75f0081e').innerHTML += ''+addy_text1656844243ca3322e6f5ca0d75f0081e+'';

Location: Finland, Helsinki

Organization: OURF and Orangutan Outreach Volunteers

Event Details: Called the "Orangutan Awareness and Caring Afternoon", volunteers for the Orang Utan Republik Foundation and Orangutan Outreach distributed information, displayed posters, and showed the moving film "GREEN", by Patrick Rouxel. For more information, contact Isabel at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Location: Portugal, Porto

Organization: Sciences College of Porto

Event Details: Volunteers for Orang Utan Republik Foundation conducted events at the Sciences College of Porto during Orangutan Caring Week. The films "GREEN" and "OrangRimba" were shown as well as exhibition in the college lobby. www.fc.up.pt/fcup/index.php .

Location: United Kingdom, Dublin, Ireland

Organization: Dublin Zoo

Dates & Time: TBA

Event Details: Activities included face painting, mask making, orangutan enrichment demonstrations and an extra keeper was on hand both days to deliver talks regarding the plight of the orangutan in the wild and what people can do to help. Contact Susan O'Brien at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for more information.

Location: United Kingdom, London, England

Organization: Orangutan Foundation, UK

Date: November 10 during Orangutan Awareness Week: November 7-13, 2010

Event Details: Orangutan Awareness Week takes place every November to draw attention to the challenges faced by wild orangutans and their rainforest home and to highlight how people can help. To encourage the widest possible participation, the Orangutan Foundation names one day of Orangutan Awareness Week as Orange for Orangutan Day- a time when groups and individuals can demonstrate how much they care, by adding orange zest to everyday life! For more information, visit www.orangutan.org.uk or contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. for fundraising ideas and materials.

Location: Canada, Toronto

Organization: Toronto Zoo

Dates & Time: TBA

Event Details: Toronto Zoo docents was on hand to share orangutan information, biofacts and more. For more information visit www.torontozoo.com

Location: Auckland, New Zealand

Organisation: Auckland Zoo

Name: Orangutan Caring Week - Madju's Market Day

Date: 6 November 2010

Time: 10am to 4pm

Event details: Madju the orangutan's fifth birthday was celebrated with party activities, orangutan encounters, and a market stall where guests could buy palm oil-free products.

Name: Orangutan Caring Week - The Great Ape Race

Date: 11 November 2010

Time: 6pm to 9pm

Event details: A race around the Zoo was held for a great cause - the Sumatran Orangutan Conservation Programme. Each team was given a map covering the entire Zoo, including access to some behind-the-scenes areas. Visit www.aucklandzoo.co.nz for more information.

Location: USA, Los Angeles, CA

Organization: USC Students

Dates: November 7-14Time: TBA

Event Details: USC students interested in orangutans had planned to hold a variety of events including:

- Reading to Kids at a local elementary school: November 14.- Hosting a booth on campus with posters and petitions- Selling t-shirts to raise funds and raise awareness- Showing orangutan films and- Hosting a public lecture and panel discussion

More information will be posted when available.

Location: USA, Birmingham, AL

Organization: Birmingham Zoo

Dates & Times: TBA

Event Details: Docents and volunteers at the zoo celebrated Orangutan Caring/Awareness Week with their visitors. More details will be posted when they are available.

Location: USA, Tampa, FL

Organization: Lowry Park Zoo

Dates & Times: TBA

Event Details: Docents and volunteers at the Zoo celebrated Orangutan Caring/Awareness Week. More details will be posted when they are available. For more information visit www.lowryparkzoo.com

Location: USA, Wauchula, FL

Organization: Center for Great Apes

Dates & Times: TBA

Event Details: Docents and volunteers at the Center will be celebrated Orangutan Caring/Awareness Week. More details will be posted when they are available. Visit www.centerforgreatapes.org/

Visit Tropic World to learn fascinating orangutan facts, watch the zoo’s orangs in action, and find out how you measure up with the versatile ape. Kids can check out orangutan handprints, try on orangutan-sized mittens, and find out why the apes need large, strong hands. Special keeper chats offered at 11:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. both days will provide insight into the orangutan’s name—Malay for “man of the forest”—and natural habitat, as well as details about the threats to the orangutan’s survival and simple ways you can help.

Location: USA, Brownsville, TX

Organization: Gladys Porter Zoo

Event Details: Docents and volunteers at the Zoo celebrated Orangutan Caring/Awareness Week. More details will be posted when they are available. For more information visit http://gpz.org/

Location: USA, Houston, TX

Organization: Houston Zoo

Dates: 6-14 November

Event Details: International Orangutan Caring Week was observed globally from Nov. 6 to Nov. 14. During that period, the Houston Zoo's primate staff conducted a Meet the Keeper Talk at the Wortham World of Primates orangutan habitat.

Special Extras were held on Saturday and Sunday, November 6-7 from 9 AM -3 PM

In addition to the daily Keeper Talk at 2:30, the zoo had keepers at the orangutan habitat from 9a.m. - 3p.m. to chat with visitors and answer any questions. Visitor came to their booth to shop for painted magnets, photo note cards, and many other items. They also had beautiful, one-of-a-kind, orangutan-painted Christmas ornaments available for purchase. For more information, visit www.houstonzoo.org/international-orangutan-caring-week/

Location: USA, Waco, TX

Organization: Cameron Park Zoo

Dates and Times: TBA

Event Details: Docents and volunteers at the Zoo celebrated Orangutan Caring/Awareness Week. More details will be posted when they are available. For more information visit www.cameronparkzoo.com/

Location: USA, Louisville, KY

Organization: Louisville Zoo

Date and Time: November 12-14, 2010; various times during the day.

Event Details: Experts predict that orangutans could be extinct in the remnant wild in 10 years.

On November 12-14, find out how you can help these magnificent animals during Louisville Zoo’s orangutan awareness weekend.

Learn about these amazing creatures first hand, meet orangutan keepers, hear about the threats orangutans face in the wild and find out what you can do to help.

Celebrate Segundo, our Sumatran Orangutan’s, 23 birthday Friday, November 12 at 2 p.m. in the Islands area complete with a banana cake with strawberry yogurt icing. On Saturday and Sunday see enrichment programs and learn all about orangutans from the people who know them best during special keeper talks at 10:15 a.m., 1:30 p.m. and 3 p.m. in the Islands area. Docents will also be available Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the Islands area with lots of interesting information, biofacts and more. The Zoo’s Youth Board will be offering face painting (for $1), sand art (for $2 and $4) and art magnets made by our orangutans (for $1 - $2) with a portion of the proceeds going directly to orangutan conservation Saturday and Sunday only.

Orangutan Awareness Weekend is free with Zoo admission and for Zoo members.

Orangutans are considered one of the closet living relatives to humans, sharing 97 percent of the same DNA and are very intelligent. They have complex social relationships and are capable of forming strong social attachments. The bond formed between mother and offspring is particularly strong and results in the longest childhood (up to 10 years) of any ape species.

Historically, orangutans were found throughout Southeast Asia and even as far north as China. But today with the rapid decline of their rainforest homes, orangutans live only on the islands of Borneo and Sumatra. It is estimated that suitable orangutan habitat in Malaysia and Sumatra has declined by more than 80 percent in the last two decades, and the wild population of Sumatran orangutans has dropped by nearly half.

According to a report released by the United Nations Environment Programme in February 2007, the spread of palm oil plantations and illegal logging to the national parks in Indonesia constitutes a conservation emergency for the critically endangered orangutan. Palm oil is becoming increasingly popular as an alternative to trans fats, and is found in one of 10 supermarket products, including margarine, baked goods, sweets, detergents and lipsticks. There is also an increasing market for vegetable oil as a renewable fuel (biofuel), in response to the need to reduce global carbon dioxide emissions, and palm oil is currently considered the most productive source of biodiesel fuel. Organizations like the United Nations Environment Programme and the Indonesian government are working to find economically and environmentally responsible solutions.

A free Orangutan-Friendly palm-oil shopping guide will also be made available this weekend indicating which companies use sustainable source palm oil.

The Louisville Zoo participates in the Orangutan Species Survival Plan (SSP), which carefully manages and oversees all aspects of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums (AZA) captive population of orangutans. Louisville Zoo Supervisor of Animal Training Jane Anne Franklin is a member of the Orangutan SSP Steering Committee.

The Louisville Zoo is home to four orangutans—females Bella, 25, and Amber, 22; and 22-year-old males Segundo and Teak.

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Orang Utan Republik Foundation (OURF) is not a political organization and does not endorse or sponsor activities that attack or condemn individuals, organizations or governments. OURF will work together with individuals, governments and nongovernmental organizations that are committed to saving orangutans and their rain forest habitat.